The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) created a procedure to select a symmetric-key encryption algorithm to protect sensitive federal information. The Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) is a standard used by the U.S. government. It was announced by NIST after 5 years of a standardization process, in which many designs were evaluated before the solution was selected.
Based on your understanding of how AES was chosen, what is your opinion of the criteria used?
Why do you think these criteria were important?
What do you think about the effectiveness and ease of use of AES?